[Ol'Jim]

I made a trip home, and this same truck had died on my brother in-law. Friday afternoon, I went to retrieve it with my son. Started up fine, sounded great, but after about 1 mile, it started "chugging" as if 1-2 cyls had stopped firing. Pulled into a parking lot. 1/2 hour later, it started, and sounded good again. got out on the road, and it did the same thing, but started losing power, along with the misfire. within 1/2 mile, I had to downshift to 2nd, then low, to keep moving while I looked for someplace to turn off the road. Would barely move the truck. Throttle setting didn't seem to affect it. Felt like fuel starvation to me. Went and got a tow strap, pulled it back to the house early Sat morning. Would not start, just an occasional firing, as in bad fuel pump. Did backfire through the throttle body once. Could hear fuel pump when key turned on. Put fuel pressure test gauge on it, and looked good, hit 60 PSI rather quickly. Maintained pressure while cranking. Told him about the distributor issues, so he bought a brand new one. Installed it, with no change in results. Double-checked wires & connections, everything seems to be in order. While cranking, it tries to start, firing erratically. You can smell fuel in the exhaust, and even see some black smoke from the tailpipe as it is trying to start. Checked for spark, it is sparking, though didn't look like a fat blue spark, but it was bright sunlight. Any suggestions on what to check next? Wondering about possible timing chain, but as I mentioned, it ran fine for a short while. Cleared code P0441, and now nothing comes up. Thanks in advance for any advice. -Jim.